The Carl Cadbury Show
by TheTreviOwl
Summary: Sarah's daughter is putting her on the spot in front of the entire nation to get an answer to her most burning question: "Who is my father?" Rated for now but could change in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**The Carl Cadbury Show**

**-x-x-x-**

"Mom! I've called the Carl Cadbury show and we are both going there tomorrow to work out this matter once and for all! You have to be at the television studio by nine tomorrow morning! Bye!"

There was a click on the other end of the phone line when her daughter hung up the phone. Sarah removed the receiver from her ear and stared at it in disbelief for a while.

The Carl Cadbury show was a television program where estranged family members and friends worked out their issues in front of the entire nation... sometimes even resulting in fights and rude name calling, all the makings for excellent daytime TV but not so wonderful if you had any sense of self decency or privacy.

This was the first time Sarah had heard from her daughter in almost a year. She'd stormed out on her 18th birthday after Sarah once again had refused to tell her who her biological father was.  
>At 18 she was of course old enough to know and if her situations were any different Sarah would agree… but this case, this matter, this problem… was different.<p>

Her daughter Elizabeth was also the daughter of a mystical creature, Jareth the Goblin King.

It had happened 20 years ago… ironically, on her own 18th birthday. She'd dreamt of the Labyrinth again, something that happened frequently after her visit and still happened on a rare occasion if she felt alone or sad. The dreams always comforted her and the beauty of the Labyrinth was something she'd wanted to keep with her forever.

But on her 18th birthday she'd wished for more, she'd wished for an experience like none other, something that would unite her with the Labyrinth forever, a night with its ruler and creator.

At first she'd believed it to be just another dream but after a few weeks she'd found herself pregnant.

After that she'd ended her daydreams of the Labyrinth and joined the real world as her father had called it when she had told him and her stepmother the news.  
>And ever since then she'd focused on nothing other than giving her daughter the best life she possibly could, away from dangers untold and hardships unnumbered.<p>

Her daughter was every bit as beautiful as the place her blood originated from. And it almost felt like she had control over everything that went on in her life, things just magically fell into place around her.

But one thing had always bothered her and it had broken Sarah's heart from the moment she'd made the decision to keep her origins a secret from her. She desperately wanted to know her father.

She'd told her own father it had been a boy who moved out of town shortly before she'd fallen pregnant and that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Since he had been untraceable her father hadn't questioned her, but she had always struggled with what to tell her daughter.  
>Her father was a great and powerful man and she couldn't bring herself to make up a story about some unfaithful or mistreating monster that had left them both… that wasn't the case and it had made her daughter all the more curious.<p>

The questions had started when she was old enough to understand that all of her playground friends had fathers and they'd gotten more persistent through the years until she'd set her the ultimatum off telling her, as a full grown and legal adult, the truth or she'd walk out and not return until she did.

And as Sarah still hadn't been ready or willing to tell her the truth that's exactly what she did.

In the time that had passed since, Sarah had gotten news through some friends that she'd been trying to track down her father on her own through the local hall off records and her own father had called her to tell her she'd been around to ask him what he knew.

This was obviously her last resort… to put her on the spot on television to get her to talk.

As Sarah went to sleep that night she wished she would dream of anything other than the labyrinth.

**-x-x-x-**

**A/N: **Yay! I'm writing again! I haven't forgotten my other stories, I promise! Thank you everyone who's read and left reviews, it means more to me than you know!


	2. Chapter 2

**The Carl Cadbury Show**

****Chapter 2.****

**-x-x-x-**

"Welcome everybody to the Carl Cadbury show!"

The show's intro emanated loudly through the room as the people in the audience exploded in loud cheers.

The host, Carl Cadbury, was standing centre stage, flamboyant as ever, controlling the crowd with such mastery which can only be found on sleazy day time TV.

"On today's show we have Elizabeth and Sarah. A mother daughter duo struggling to see eye to eye on a matter so often discussed on this show… Now everybody say it with me… Mommy! Who is my Daddy! … So Elizabeth, you contacted the show and asked us to help you deal with your mom is that right?"

"Yes."

"You told us that she hasn't wanted to tell you who your father is and you stormed out on your 18th birthday after giving her a final ultimatum."

"Yes, that's right Carl."

"Since you haven't seen each other in so long is there anything you want to say to your mom before we begin?"

"Yes, thank you Carl. Mom… Either you tell me who my father is or you will never get to meet your grandchild which I am now carrying."

The crowd again erupted in a tidal wave of loud oohs and ahhs of surprize.

"Sarah… anything you want to say to Elizabeth before we get on with the show?"

"Wait... what… Elizabeth you can't be…"

"Well Sarah it seems that she is, now what do you want to do, do you want to miss out on your grandchild's life?"

Her eyes were burning, the studio lights were so bright they blinded her. She felt herself sweating profusely… like something heavy and warm was lying on top of her.

"No… But I can't tell you who the father is… I just can't"

"Well Sarah… lucky for you, you don't have to… everybody please welcome Jareth, king of the goblins to the stage… Jareth is the ruler of the underground, king of the goblin castle and as it turns out… Sarah's boy toy!"

Again the crowd let out a huge ooh sound to emphasize the drama as Jareth walked on to the stage…

Sarah shot up with a start… franticly she look around the room searching for her daughter, Jareth and Carl Cadbury but they were nowhere to be found, she was in her bedroom… it had all been a dream.

Her heart was still beating in her chest and she realized she was tangled up in her duvet. She swiftly kicked it off to cool herself down… and realized she had to do something… most of all she had to get her daughter back into her life.

For a moment she sat on her bed pondering her options. She could say he was dead… or that she didn't know how to find him… but she shook her head and sighed, she didn't want to live with lies like that.

Maybe she could hire someone to pretend to be her father… no, her features were so distinct, it would never work.

And finally she reached the inevitable conclusion. She had to ask Jareth for help.

She got out of her bed and walked over to the window. Drawing in a deep breath she evoked within herself feelings that had been lying dormant for 20 years… and wished for the goblin King.

A gust of wind swept through the room and she turned around calmly to face the centre of it. As the glitter in the air settled, he was there standing right in front of her… it was that easy.

"Well, hello there Sarah. Long time, no see." Not having changed a bit in appearance, his face looking smug and triumphant and his hands on his hips exaggerating his dominant stance gave him away for the smartass he was… Sarah, sighed to herself, this was going to be interesting.

"Hello Jareth, yes, long time indeed." She turned away and sighed again. Walking over to the bed again, she sat down on the edge and folded her arms in her lap.

Wasting no time, Jareth immediately moved to join her on the bed and swiftly wrapped his arms around her and laid her back on the bed, just as his lips were seeking hers she finally manage to protest.

"Wait, that's not why I called you here!" She pushed him back up to a sitting position and quickly rearranged her nightgown which suspiciously had been all the way undone in the back. "Wow, you move fast."

Ignoring her last comment he replied in a seductive voice.

"Well it is why I decided to answer your call… you can't just expect me to keep my hands of the love of my life when she finally unlocks the barriers between our worlds after all this time."

"What? No Jareth hang on…" He was trying to kiss her again. "… I called you here to help me deal with our daughter."

That sentence stopped him dead in his tracks and he pulled back from her sharply.

"Our daughter?"

"Yes." She looked away bashfully. "Remember that night… my 18th birthday…"

"Sarah… it's all I think about." His tone was startlingly endearing.

She blushed.

"Well, I hadn't counted on having to use protection, given your otherworldly nature… so yes, you have a daughter Jareth, a daughter that will turn 19 in 3 months."

The look on his face was quite unreadable, but he was mostly just staring straight at her… his jaw hanging a bit slack.

She finally noticed that he'd been quiet so long that she had started examining his face carefully and decided to speak again.

"… and your daughter… wants to get to know you… "

"What's her name?" His voice was dry.

"Elizabeth. I haven't told her a thing, your secrets are safe, but now she's asking too many questions and she's blocked me out of her life for almost a year and now she's going to put me on television and try to get me to confess who you are in front of the entire nation… and I don't know what to do! The only thing I could think was to call you here and have you act like someone who no one would want as their father… then we wouldn't ever bother you again."

She realized as she let go of her words that she was breathing quite franticly… she'd been dreading this moment for so long and she felt she would lose it if he didn't say something soon.

But Jareth sat quietly for a moment without looking at her before finally answering.

"Is that what you want Sarah?"

"What?"

"Do you not want me in our daughter's life?"

"I… I did this to protect her, it's not normal!"

"You were never normal Sarah."

"But…"

"Sarah, I will respect your wishes, if you do not want me in your lives I'll help you and leave. But let me warn you, I'm not going to lie to my own flesh and blood."

"I just… think it's for the best."

"Why don't you let her decide that."

"Jareth…"

"Alright… what do you need me to do?"

**-x-x-x-**

**A/N: **Thank you for taking the time out to read my story, I am working on updating my other stories too. :)


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